AI as a consciousness extension
Core premise
- AI isn't just a general purpose tool - in the right hands, it's a weapon
- AI used correctly is an extension of your consciousness - most humans don't think at this level
- This skillset resembles structured problem solving and advanced communications more than other disciplines
- Universities teach outdated AI concepts - you need to learn the latest tools hitting the market
- Very few people have gotten close to mastering AI - giving you a massive opportunity
Mindset development for AI mastery
Essential mental shifts:
- The AI shift will be even bigger than you think
- Develop your personal AI gameplan rather than following conventional paths
- Overcome fear to perform - traditional learning paths aren't the only way
- Think 10x, not +10% - question assumptions and seek exponential improvements
- Focus on clarity about how to think with AI, not just how to use it
AI fundamentals
Technical knowledge base:
- Understand LLMs, tokens, and model capabilities
- Adopt a consumer-led approach to AI - these tools are accessible and powerful
- Select appropriate computing resources to build AI skills
- Know the differences between open source AI models vs commercial models
- Use model selection guides to choose the right tool for each task
Consumer AI tool advantages
Why consumer tools give you agency:
- Develop AI opportunity recognition skills
- Master strategic AI tool selection for different needs
- Implement AI efficiency and impact tracking systems
- Apply AI tools to day-to-day work for immediate productivity gains
- Consumer tools provide easy, exciting, and capable entry points to AI
Prompt engineering mastery
Communication with AI:
- Start with your first real prompt - learn by doing
- Master basic prompt anatomy (role, context, task, format)
- Progress to the advanced PRECISE framework
- Learn context control to guide AI responses
- Develop format control mastery for consistent outputs
- Implement advanced constraints and success criteria
- Integrate these skills into cohesive prompt strategies
Advanced AI interaction
Beyond basic prompting:
- Understand the importance of quality assurance for AI outputs
- Implement bias detection and mitigation strategies
- Master iterative refinement prompting techniques
- Build your own quality assurance system
- Learn advanced patterns: chain of thought, few-shot, meta-cognitive approaches
- Develop domain-specific prompting for code, research, creative work, and analysis
- Understand prompt injection and jailbreaking (use responsibly)
- Implement prompt version control and optimisation processes
Vibe coding
Natural language programming:
- Learn the introduction to vibe coding concepts
- Master natural language vibe coding techniques
Essential AI tools
Current recommended stack:
- Note: This space moves fast - build your personal toolkit from these options
- Development: Replit.com, Bolt.new, Claude Code, OpenAI Codex CLI
- Automation: n8n.io
- Visual: Midjourney, Runway (video), Canva AI
- Audio: Elevenlabs (voice synthesis)
- Chatbots: Chatbase.co
- Productivity: Notebook LM, Gamma.app, Synthesia AI
Key principles to remember
Guiding ideas:
- Skills lead to agency - and agency is what you want in an AI world
- AI gives you speed, which brings agility in learning and building
- It's not about being the best Python developer or having a PhD - it's about practical application
- This is your AI fluency starter pack - learn to think with AI, not just use it
- Integration into your actual life is the key to making AI truly valuable